After the United States presidential elections, Swifties, the name of Taylor Swift’s fans, flee from X for Bluesky. X’s owner, billionaire Elon Musk, was one of Donald Trump’s biggest backers, funneling more than $100 million to the US PAC supporting Trump; defend the candidate in the electoral campaign; and boost Trump’s messaging about X. Musk also helped Trump reach a clearly right-wing male audience. Swifties, who have built a strong community on the platform formerly known as Twitter, took notice. On Thursday, less than 48 hours after Trump won the presidency, they were beginning to abandon the platform for good.
“I love the idea of building a new community here and would love to not have to support Elon in any way,” says Justin, who goes by @justin-the-baron.swifties.social on Bluesky and asked to use only his first name for fear of harassment. “Elon is, of course, a huge Trump supporter, which doesn’t align with Taylor’s values or the values of Swifties.”
Although there are Swifties on all sides of the political spectrum, the community prides itself on being a positive and accepting space. After Kamala Harris was announced as the Democratic nominee for president, Swifties began rallying to support her. In September, Swift herself endorsed Harris. In an Instagram post In announcing her support, Swift cited AI-generated images of her and her fans which had been used by Trump to imply that she had endorsed him.
After the endorsement, Musk aware“Okay Taylor… you win… I’ll give you a child and take care of your cats with my life.” Musk, who has repeatedly shared his concerns about declining birth rates, has at least 11 children with at least three women. According to the New York Times, He also offered his sperm to Nicole Shanahan, former running mate of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (she refused).
Irene Kim, an organizer with Swifties for Kamala, says the avalanche of misogyny after the election pushed her and many other Swift fans to abandon X and seek refuge in Bluesky. Although research has found that hate speech and misinformation increased after Musk took over the platform, Trump’s election appears to have fueled it. TO report Institute for Strategic Dialogue found that in the 24 hours after Trump’s election victory, phrases like “Your body, my choice,” parroting the election night rhetoric by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, increased 4,600 percent in X.
“I think that’s the kind of rhetoric we want to get away from,” Kim says. He also points out that recent update The “block” feature, which allows people to view the profile and posts of users who have blocked them, has contributed to a more negative experience on the platform. “Twitter has definitely become hell,” Kim says.
